Muni Rodeo pits top drivers against a tough course

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, August 9, 1998

1998-08-09 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- As he nervously awaited his turn on the obstacle course, Romeo Arriaza, last year's Muni Rodeo winner, said it could all be lost in the blink of an eye.

"It's all about getting up on the right foot. If you're sleepy and you close your eyes for a second you can lose it all," said Arriaza.

Arriaza was one of more than 50 employees who participated in the 23rd Annual Muni Bus Rodeo on Saturday at Pier 96.

Rafael Cabrera seized the rodeo title from Arriaza this year. He, along with second place winner Kevin Grady and third-place winner David Longon will go on to the regional competition in Santa Clara at the end of the month. Winners at the regional contest will advance to the nationals held in New York in mid-October.

The intricate course challenges drivers to negotiate their buses through narrow passage ways, make reverse turns and sharp turns without touching street cones.

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During the last part of the course - called the diminishing clearance - drivers travel through a narrow passage at speeds of about 20 mph. As they pass through, the width between the buses and the barrels lining the strait diminishes. Finally, the bus driver must stop six inches from a cone.

Arriaza said the rodeo course is a lot tougher than driving out on the street.

"The distance between the cones and the bus is about three inches," he said.

Ed Jones said driving a bus was a lot tougher than it looked as he walked away from his bus after competing.

"My hat goes off to all those drivers who do this every day," said Jones, who has worked in Muni management for 20 years. "It's a hard job."

This year's event was held in memory of Ron D. Haren, a Muni driver for 32 years who died of cancer in January. Part of his career was spent in Muni's cable car division. Mayor Brown was on hand to honor the Haren family. He described Haren as, "a man who drove, worked and served the great city of San Francisco 32 long years. . . . He did it with great distinction." Haren took first place six times in past Muni Rodeos. The last was in 1988 when he also was the regional rodeo winner. Larry Haren, Ron's brother, said the last time his brother competed was in 1994, taking second place.

"This is really special. Our family is very proud," said Larry Haren. "It's hard to believe. I lost my brother and best friend."

Emilio Cruz, Muni general manager, jokingly told the crowd that they would not see any horses in this rodeo and recalled how Mayor Brown showed up at one of the past events wearing jeans and cowboy boots.

Harold Byrd, Muni driving instructor for 17 years, participated in the rodeo, and said the obstacle course was tough enough even for the best drivers. "It challenges your skills as a driver," he said.

Byrd said that although the course was challenging, he believed it was tougher driving out on the streets.

"You gotta be strong in order to have this job. You gotta deal with the people and cars out on the streets and with bad publicity," Byrd said.

He said he feels the media unfairly focuses on the negative news rather than some of the positive things the rail service does.

"No one ever writes a story about the good stuff - about the bus driver that helped a senior citizen that was being mugged at a bus stop or about the bus driver who blocked a car from running over a child," he said. "Muni employees are the ambassadors to The City," Byrd said. "We are the first thing people coming in see - they see the bus drivers. They don't see the police or the firemen. They see us."

In addition to the twisting and winding bus course event, there was a maintenance competition.

Two groups of three Muni employees participated in maintenance, trouble shooting and engine work.

Part of the competition included the teams being given a nonworking engine. The teams had a limited amount of time to get it started.